MIT teaches a drone to perch on power lines so it can recharge during flight

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One of the biggest issues facing the use of flying drones is their limited range. The problem comes down to weight. Batteries are relatively heavy, and if you want to carry a payload, then a compromise has to be made somewhere and it’s usually in the battery department. This has lead to drone fly times of about 10-20 minutes.

Instead of waiting for battery technology to catch up, the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) at MIT has decided to approach the issue from different direction — why not allow the drones to recharge themselves while in flight. It doesn’t sound plausible because you’d have to setup countless base stations for them to locate and charge at, but those recharge points already exist in the form of power lines.

The craft CSAIL used to test this new system is a single motor glider. The drone has the appropriate sensors to detect a power line, travel over to it, and perform a maneuver that allows it to perch on the line even when it’s windy. That procedure can be seen happening successfully in the video above.

The system the glider uses is based on the stall technique birds rely on. They open their wings and change the angle of their body in order to achieve a trajectory and land accurately on the thin cable. The glider does the same thing by thrusting it’s nose upwards, losing velocity rapidly, and falling on to the line. What the system doesn’t yet show is how the glider unhooks and carries on flying, but this is a work in progress and relaunches will surely come later.

Using power lines is a clever solution to the problem of recharging because they are so abundant across urban areas. They also come with the added safety of allowing a drone to recharge without landing where they would be susceptible to damage or theft. An alternative method of recharging would be required for a quadcopter, but maybe they could hover above and drop down on to the power line to get a charge.